IT company L7 Solutions has reported a 36 per cent growth in annual sales revenue and announced plans to expand its operations through the launch of a recruitment business.
The Perth-based company is in the process of buying an undisclosed Western Australian recruitment business and is also working on a second acquisition target to further diversify its operations.
The move into recruitment will add to L7 Solutions’ four business units: advisory, integration, managed services and training.
Chief executive Matt Sullivan, who founded the company in 2004, said recruitment costs and the company’s requirements for technical staff made the decision an obvious one.
“We are a professional services business, so we’re always in the market looking for certified, technical people, so it just made sense for us,” Mr Sullivan said.
“One of our biggest costs in 2009 was around recruitment and we have developed internal capability where we recruit for ourselves … and we wanted to take it to the next level, where we could actually turn it into a revenue line for the business.”
Mr Sullivan said the recruitment business would cater predominantly to the technology market, but also in the areas of business and project management.
L7 Solutions has become the ninth-biggest IT consulting company in WA, according to the 2011 WA Business News Book of Lists.
The company lifted revenue last financial year by 36 per cent to $42 million.
Within that total, it also increased annuity services, with recurring revenue from contracts up 48 per cent and now accounting for a third of total revenue.
Mr Sullivan said the core focus for the business was to continue with the growth of its cloud platform services, strategic product development and maintaining momentum in the outsourcing market.
“We have not only achieved these goals, but we have also grown the overall business by 36 per cent year on year … and have grown our staff numbers to 130,” Mr Sullivan said.
He said L7 Solutions maintained a strong footprint in the government and resources sectors, with clients including Woodside, Western Power and universities.
Meanwhile, British Telecommunications plc has become the newest player in WA’s IT sector, after it won a contract to partner international service company Serco on the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.
Serco signed a contract with the WA Health department in July to provide facilities management and support services at the hospital, valued at $1.3 billion to the company over 10 years.
BT will install and manage the hospital’s communications infrastructure and run a range of IT services aimed at making the hospital one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly in Australia.
BT Global Services chief executive Jeff Kelly said the company had a long history as a leading supplier of communications and IT services to the health-care sector.
“While our primary focus has been in the UK with our work with the National Health Service, we are now looking to apply this unique knowledge and expertise globally, especially in the Asia-Pacific region,” Mr Kelly said.
BT established operations in Australia more than 25 years ago and employs 200 people in offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
As part of the project BT will create 70 jobs in WA, with up to 10 new positions already being established following the signing of the contract.
